Sport for Confidence wins national public health champion award

CIMSPA Employer Partner Sport for Confidence CIC has been crowned national winner at the prestigious annual NHS England Chief Allied Health Professions Officer (CAHPO) Awards.

Winning the Health Champion Award, SFC was recognised for its outstanding contribution to service improvements that benefit population health and wellbeing by tackling health inequalities.

The awards programme, now in its seventh year, promotes the adoption and dissemination of good practice while celebrating the dedication, innovation, leadership and success of individuals and teams. The awards are open to all members of the allied health professions (AHP) community and nominations are made by peers or individuals themselves.

Lyndsey Barrett, founder of SFC, says: “Gaining this recognition from NHS England reinforces the value in the work our team of community-based occupational therapists deliver every day, using physical activity as the foundation to improve the lives of those who traditionally struggle to access facilities and services.

“Our application was focused on the work we delivered as part of a ground-breaking Prevention and Enablement model (PEM) that embedded physical activity into a whole system approach to adult health and social care. The project was a test and learn Local Delivery Pilot (LDP), delivered by us in partnership with Adult Social Care at Essex County Council, Active Essex.”

Independently evaluated by the University of Essex and State of Life, the project outcomes evidenced a £58.72 return in social value for every £1 Invested, Barrett said.

The Health Champion Award announcement was made at a virtual awards ceremony on 12 October 2023 by Linda Hindle, deputy CAHPO in the Office of Health Improvement and Disparities, part of the Department of Health and Social Care.

Commenting on the award, Hindle said: “The reason the Sport for Confidence team were successful as the winners of the category this year is because they had an AHP lead health improvement model. They focused at a systems level across health and social care but also incorporated local government and voluntary organisations in their intervention. They had a focus on equity of access and experience, plus their data on impact was to a very high standard including return on investment data.”

Pictured l-r: Robert Walker, OT; Andy Chapman, OT; Liz Fletcher, OT and national team lead; Jake Turner, ops director; Megan Potts, OT and clinical lead; Lyndsey Barrett, lead OT, founder and CEO SFC

• For more information about the PEM model, visit www.sportforconfidence, click on the ‘Services’ tab, then select ‘Prevention and Enablement Model’ from the drop down menu.